


Birthday

by Mlr96



Series: The Two Doctors [1]
Category: Criminal Minds, Doctor Who
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 10:34:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6953137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mlr96/pseuds/Mlr96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First in The Two Doctors series about Dr. Spencer Reid, a genius, an FBI Agent, a profiler and a Time Lord.</p>
<p>Story #1:<br/>"Professor, you need to understand that –"<br/>"And you need to understand that I'm not the Professor anymore," Spencer said. "I haven’t been the Professor for the past twenty four years. I am Dr. Spencer Reid and, unlike you, I earned my title. So stop going in circles and just tell me – do I need to protect myself from Daleks or from Time Lords?"<br/>"Neither."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday

_This is going to be a good day,_ Spencer Reid thought to himself as he walked into the bullpen area, ready to start on his paperwork.

Not only did they manage to catch a serial rapist who killed six women just in time to save the seventh, but it was also his birthday _and_ JJ agreed to go see a football game with him. He wasn’t a big fan of football, but JJ was and it was a good opportunity to see if what he was starting to feel towards her was merely friendly emotions or something more.

It had been quite a long time since he had friends, and I was hard for him to remember what these things were supposed to feel like.

"G-Man!" Garcia called out, making his head pop up. "There's someone here to see you… he's been waiting since before you came back."

"What?" Spencer asked, confused. "Who?"

"Wouldn’t say his name," Garcia huffed, clearly annoyed with the stranger. "Bald guy, tallish, leather jacket… he said he's a childhood friend."

Spencer's eyes widened as realization came upon him. There was only one person who would refuse to give his name, his description won't ring a bell, but would still claim to be a friend. And a _childhood friend_ at that…

"Where is he?" he asked.

"At the conference room," Garcia replied. "Do you want me to tell him you're here?"

"No," Spencer said, just a bit too quickly as he collected his belongings. "I'll go see him now."

When he reached the conference room, he took a deep breath to calm himself down before opening the door to meet the man inside. The man in question looked up at the sound of someone entering the room, his eyes following Spencer as the FBI Agent shut the blinds and turned the camera off.

"Bit paranoid, don’t you think?" he asked in a northern British accent.

"It isn’t paranoia if someone's after you," Spencer replied shortly.

"Is someone after you?" the stranger asked.

"About half the species in the universe, I'd assume," Spencer said. "I got used to it."

"Yes, you did," the man nodded, before looking at Spencer again. "Human suits you," he said. "It's your birthday today, isn’t it?"

"Twenty four years," Spencer confirmed.

"Rounding about half a millennia down, I believe," the man said with a small smile. "Looking good for your age, though."

"You're several hundred years older than me," Spencer told him, not returning the smile. "Rounding down or not."

"I still remember that day as if it was yesterday," the man said. "Do you."

"It's a bit vague," Spencer said coldly.

"Twenty four years," the man muttered. "Long time."

"And all those years, I didn’t see you once," Spencer said. "How long has it been for you?"

"Too long."

"I'd wager. You regenerated."

"Twice," the man said before sighing. "How've you been? How does Earth life suit you?"

"Enough with the small talk, Doctor," Spencer said, rolling his eyes. "There are only two possible reasons you're here. We won, and the Time Lords are after me for Desertion, or we lost, and you're here to tell me Daleks are coming."

An odd look crossed the Doctor's eyes before he spoke again.

"I remember how small you were that day," he said. "Your regeneration has gone wrong and you ended up as a day old baby."

"I know," Spencer all but bit out. "I was there."

"I had no choice but to leave you here –"

"And I have no time," Spencer cut him off. "I've had escape plans ready since I was twelve, Doctor, and I need to know which one to use."

"Professor, you need to understand that –"

"And _you_ need to understand that I'm not the Professor anymore," Spencer said. "I haven’t been the Professor for the past twenty four years. I am Dr. Spencer Reid and, unlike you, I earned my title. So stop going in circles and just _tell me_ – do I need to protect myself from Daleks or from Time Lords?"

"Neither," the Doctor said quietly.

"Then you must be really stupid or really desperate to think I'm going to start fighting the war now –"

"I said neither," the Doctor snapped. "Not both. The War wasn’t ending, the universe was burning and the Time Lords lost what little sanity they had left. Someone had to end it. _I_ had to end it."

Spencer looked at the man he once considered his closest friend, scared to ask the question but also knowing he had to.

"What did you do?"

"They're gone," the Doctor said. "All the Daleks, and…"

"And all the Time Lords," Spencer muttered, falling on one of the chairs. "You… you _killed_ them…"

"I had no choice," the Doctor said. "You have to understand – we're the only ones left! Please, Professor –"

"Don’t call me Professor," Spencer said, his voice deathly silent.

"Spencer…" the Doctor said, falling to his knees. " _Please_ …"

"I need you to go right now," Spence said. "You… you need to go."

"Spencer –"

"You need to go," Spencer repeated. "Because right now the only thing I can think about is that you committed double genocide and that one of the species that died is _our species_."

"I had to," the Doctor whispered. "I had no choice…"

"I believe you," Spencer told him. "But that doesn’t change what you did and I… I can't see you right now."

"I understand," the Doctor said, trying not to show how hurt he was by the words that came out of his old friend's mouth. "Would you like me to call someone on my way out?"

"Garcia," Spencer said. "The woman who was here when you arrived."

"Okay," the Doctor said, rising to his feet. "And, Spencer… I'm sorry."

Spencer didn’t say anything, nor did he move when the Doctor opened the door and walked out. Later, he'll realize he was more than likely in a state of shock but for now all he did was stare at the air in front of him.

"Reid?" Garcia asked, walking into the room. "The man said that – oh, honey, what happened?"

He didn’t realize he was crying until Garcia wiped a tear from his cheek before pulling him into a hug. He rested his head on her shoulder, shaking as he sobbed, holding her tight.

"Did… did someone die?" she asked.

_Yes,_ he wanted to say. _A lot of people died. My entire species died._

But he couldn’t say that.

None of his team members knew he was alien, and he knew he could never tell them. Even if it wouldn’t make them think he was crazy and throw him in a mental institution, every alien fighting agency from Torchwood to UNIT would be on his tail – whether to use him or kill him didn’t matter.

So he just nodded, allowing Garcia to comfort him and allowing himself to keep pretending he was nothing more than just another human.

Allowing himself to keep pretending he was Dr. Spencer Reid, even if the lie was already starting to show.


End file.
